FSC MAY 27: U.S.-MOROCCO SEMINAR ON CONVENTIONAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 USOSCE 000134

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/CARC,
SCA/CEN, SCA/RA, PM/WRA, ISN/CPI
JCS FOR J-5
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI)
NSC FOR HAYES
USUN FOR LEGAL, POL
EUCOM FOR J-5
CENTCOM FOR J-5
UNVIE FOR AC
GENEVA FOR CD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE MO RS XG
SUBJECT: FSC MAY 27: U.S.-MOROCCO SEMINAR ON CONVENTIONAL
ARMS AND REGIONAL SECURITY IN SECURITY DIALOGUE


1. (SBU) Summary: The Security Dialogue included an account
of the U.S.-Morocco hosted seminar on conventional arms and
regional security in Rabat, April 14-15. The U.S., Morocco,
Spain, and France described the seminar, which sought
coordinated regional responses to the proliferation of
weapons from conflict zones into North and West Africa and
the Sahel. Delegations from nations in these regions as well
as France and Spain attended. Earlier, a Portuguese
state-owned defense holding company described its ammunition
demilitarization services.


2. (SBU) In the working groups, despite low-grade sniping
among some delegations, there was wide support for the draft
list of political-military elements for the 2009 Annual
Security Review Conference. Russia acknowledged U.S. and
Conflict Prevention Center comments on the British-Russian
draft Best Practice Guide on Vienna Document contact visits.
Support is growing for the German-authored draft guidelines
for Vienna Document inspection briefings, although Russia
still wants them to be mandatory. The chair of the Informal
Group of Friends of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW)
surveyed OSCE decisions and related developments in the field
since 1999 and will soon introduce a draft agenda and
modalities for the special meeting to review the OSCE
Document on SALW.


3. (SBU) The U.S. called for further support of the
Food-for-Thought paper proposing measures by the FSC to
support implementation of UNSCR 1540, introduced in March.
Belgium, Canada, Croatia, France, and Poland now are willing
to co-sponsor. Italy, an original co-sponsor with Britain
and the U.S., suggested drawing on FSC expertise by
organizing an information exchange on participating States'
implementation programs. Canada noted it has, like the U.S.,
circulated a draft chapter for a Best Practices Guide on 1540
and called for comments. Russia noted it generally supports
implementation of 1540 through the OSCE but added that the
FFT "raises issues for us" as it was important to find the
best modalities to support the resolution. End summary.

Rabat Seminar
--------------


4. (SBU) The U.S. (Silberberg) briefed the FSC on a joint
U.S.-Morocco hosted seminar on conventional arms and regional
security held in Rabat, Morocco, April 14-15, 2009. During
the October 2008 U.S.-organized MANPADs seminar for
Mediterranean Partners in Vienna, the Moroccan delegation
expressed concern over the flow of conventional weapons from
conflict zones into the regions of North Africa, the Sahel,
and West Africa. Morocco noted the need for additional work
and proposed the idea of a regional seminar as a useful tool.
The U.S. and Morocco co-hosted the April 2009 seminar to open
dialogue on conventional arms proliferation. Participants
from border control agencies in Burkina Faso, Chad, France,
Libya, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Spain, Tunisia, and the U.S.
attended.


5. (SBU) The Rabat seminar focused on illicit proliferation
of conventional armaments from conflict zones into North
Africa, the Sahel, and West Africa. Attendees identified
regional threats and evaluated regional security
capabilities. Most attendees viewed socioeconomic factors as

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central to proliferation - as arms trading provides a source
of income for impoverished tribes and families ) and noted
that increased regulation would likely exacerbate poverty in
the region, which in turn could increase extremism and the
proliferation of "gray areas." Discussion of these factors,
as well as other threats, steered the group toward
identifying several common security goals for the region.


6. (SBU) Spanish, French, and U.S. experts provided technical
information and spoke about available programs to improve
existing or future regional security capabilities to combat
proliferation. Attendees discussed and identified
counter-proliferation and preventative security measures to
address these goals, including interagency coordination,
specialized training and sharing of best practices,
strengthened export controls, and multilateral cooperation.


7. (SBU) Morocco (Laaouaouda) added that recently dismantled
terrorist networks were supported by conventional weapons
proliferation, noting linkages between terrorist cells in
Afghanistan and the Sahel region. Laaouaouda suggested that
regional inter-governmental coordination should also target
crime, money laundering, trafficking, and other criminal
activities, which often are associated with conventional arms
proliferation. He said that lack of intergovernmental
communication undercuts these efforts.


8. (SBU) Sweden (Byren) questioned whether the Economic
Community of West African States (ECOWAS) moratorium on
import, export, and manufacture of light weapons had been
effective in curbing conventional proliferation. Morocco
noted that the moratorium is not respected, but argued that
local production, which does not fall under the aegis of the
moratorium, was a contributing factor as well. France
(Simonet) supports the two-pronged approach taken at the
seminar: (1) a regional focus, and (2) an
inter-administrative focus including police, civil aviation,
and other sectors within countries. Spain (Anson) also
supported the seminar.


9. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) noted its support for regional
nonproliferation efforts but pointed out that despite the
plethora of multilateral agreements halting the spread of
conventional arms created in the 1980s and 1990s, the OSCE
recently had come to a "stand still" and that "not everything
is as good as it seems to be." Belgium (Kenes) asked about
the possibility of expanding participation in future
seminars. The U.S. (Silberberg) noted that it was planning
additional events like the Rabat seminar that would increase
outreach to other regions.

Portuguese Demilitarization Capacity
--------------


10. (SBU) Major General (retired) Jose Cordeiro gave an
overview of governmental and private sector actors in
Portugal's defense manufacturing and demilitarization
industries, and provided a more detailed briefing on
Portugal's demilitarization process for obsolete conventional
ammunition. Both functions are carried out under the aegis
of EMPORDEF, a holding company of Portuguese defense
industries with the government as its sole shareholder.


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11. (SBU) EMPORDEF provides manufacturing, maintenance and
support, and demilitarization to the Portugal defense
establishment across a number of areas, including naval,
industrial, and technological sectors. EMPORDEF also
actively pursues national and international partnerships;
more than two-thirds (71 percent) of EMPORDEF activity is
targeted to international markets, through which the company
provides technical knowledge to other companies within
Europe.


12. (SBU) Manufacturing and destruction of armed forces and
security corps ammunition is contracted through the Industry
of Defense Demilitarization (IDD),an EMPORDEF subsidiary.
IDD was created to facilitate the implementation of the
Ottawa Convention, but has since undertaken the destruction
and recycling of obsolete conventional ammunition as well.


13. (SBU) France (Simonet) asked whether the OSCE could play
a role in IDD's efforts. Cordeiro noted IDD's willingness to
partner with participating States (pS) on demilitarization
and offered IDD as a model of a "small, profitable" company
capable of effectively demilitarizing obsolete ammunition
stockpiles at low-cost. Finland (Kangaste) and the CPC
(Kalashnyk) were interested in the types of cooperation
EMPORDEF and IDD had pursued with international partners.
Cordeiro noted that EMPORDEF had worked with NATO's NAMSA and
companies in Spain, Italy, and France. Cordeiro further noted
that, in cases of international cooperation on destruction,
Portugal preferred on-site destruction of materials due to
the dangers in transporting obsolete ammunition.


14. (SBU) The U.S. (Silberberg) asked whether EMPORDEF
weighed relative costs between demilitarization (including
recycling ammunition) and complete destruction, and whether
IDD had considered the resale of recovered ammunition to
offset destruction costs. Cordeiro stated that EMPORDEF was
quite competitive in the world market, noting that it
compared favorably with larger defense manufacturing
companies, including U.S. companies.

List of Pol-Mil Elements
--------------


15. (SBU) In the working groups, there appears to be wide if
tacit support for the draft "list of politico-military
elements for the 2009 Annual Security Review Conference"
(FSC.DEL/115/09/Rev.1),although Azerbaijan returned to its
earlier complaint over the "opacity of the process" by which
the list had been assembled, and criticized the FSC chef de
file for the ASRC (Simonet, France) for lack of impartiality
and transparency. Russia (Ulyanov) noted that the list was
not a consensus document and did not reflect the preferences
of all 56 Forum delegations. Ulyanov suggested the title of
the list be amended to reflect that the elements were
"suggested by FSC delegations."


16. (SBU) Ulyanov then objected to the chair's proposal to
forward the list to the June 3 plenary for "endorsement" as
this connoted a "positive reaction" by all delegations and
was too similar to what the FSC did when it "approved" a
decision. He suggested "take note of" as less judgmental.
Armenia urged forbearance and self-restraint by delegations
when making proposals for the list while Greece and the UK

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praised the list and urged the chair to forward it to the
CiO. The list will be reviewed again by the FSC Troika and
may appear on the June 3 plenary agenda along with the
chair's transmittal letter.

Vienna Document
--------------


17. (SBU) Turkey (Begec) introduced a Food-for-Thought paper
that would allow use without advance approval of digital
camera and global positioning systems during Vienna Document
inspections and evaluations (FSC.DEL/124/09). Begec noted
the frequent use of these devices in Vienna Document
verification activities and the need for clear rules on their
use.


18. (SBU) The U.S. reminded delegations of the invitation
extended by Italy for Chapter IV airfield and military
facility visits June 8-12 to U.S. units at Aviano Air Base
and Caserma Ederle in Vicenza. A written reminder was also
circulated (FSC.NOT/10/09).

HOV Meeting
--------------


19. (SBU) Ukraine announced support for the draft decision to
hold a meeting of heads of verification agencies on December
14 in conjunction with the Annual Exchange of Military
Information (FSC.DD/3/09/Corr.1 Turkey said it lacked
instructions, most likely for administrative reasons. The
draft will remain on the working group agenda for the June 3
meeting.

VD99 Briefing Guidelines
--------------


20. (SBU) Turkey, Spain, Ukraine, and Poland joined the
supporters of the German-proposed guidelines for Vienna
Document inspection and evaluation briefings
(FSC.DEL/103/09). Finland (Kangaste) reported that the paper
was being reviewed in capital where there was concern that
it might be better couched as a chair's paper or a Best
Practices Guide (which do not require consensus at 56 and are
not mandatory). Germany (Schweizer),in response to
Kangaste, noted the draft decision included the "adopts and
endorses for publication" language also used to approve BPGs.
Russia (Ulyanov),while still awaiting instructions that are
"likely to be substantial," said the status of the paper was
a matter of principle. Chair's statements do not improve the
implementation of the Vienna Document: "they don't work."
Instead, a "serious," mandatory decision was needed.
Schweizer will prepare a revised version as a chair's draft
decision for the June 10 working group.

SALW Review
--------------


21. (SBU) The chair of the Informal Group of Friends of Small
Arms and Light Weapons (Schweizer, Germany) circulated a
prioritized list of FSC SALW-related decisions for the review
tasked by Ministerial decision 11/08. Schweizer gave a brief
overview of the history of SALW work at the OSCE:


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- 1999: FSC started to discuss SALW, two years before the UN
launched its own Program of Action on SALW. FSC decision
6/99 recognized that the spread of SALW contributed to armed
conflicts.
- 2000: OSCE Document on SALW in 2000
- 2000-2002: workshops to develop plans for implementation of
the Document, culminating in FSC decision 15/02 that provided
expert advice on implementation via projects
- 2003: Best Practices Guides on SALW
- 2003-2004: decisions on MANPADS
- 2004: decisions on end-use certificates and brokering
- 2006: MANPADS annex to the BPG
- 2006: illicit air trafficking of SALW decision
- 2007 Madrid ministerial decision
- 2007-2009: NGO presentations at FSC
- 2007-2009: information exchanges on end-use certificates
and brokering - 2008: Ministerial decision 11/08 to review
the OSCE Document on SALW and supplementing decisions


22. (SBU) Schweizer said he had drafted an agenda with
modalities for the special meeting on the SALW review,
tentatively scheduled for September 22-23. He was forwarding
the draft to the FSC Troika and hoped it could be introduced
at the June 3 FSC with substantive discussion to follow at
the June 10 meeting. A decision on the agenda would need to
be made before the summer recess at the end of July to allow
enough time for inviting speakers and other arrangements.


UNSCR 1540
--------------


23. (SBU) The U.S. (Silberberg) provided an update on further
work on UNSCR 1540. The Food-for-Thought paper (FFT) on an
OSCE 1540 strategy, initially co-sponsored by the U.S., the
UK, and Italy, now includes Canada and Belgium as additional
co-sponsors (FSC.DEL/25/09/Corr.2). Silberberg observed that
UNSCR 1540 is a global effort, and that the most recent UN
report on the resolution, published late 2008, called for
further measures. The UN 1540 Committee works with several
regional organizations such as the OAS and OSCE as well as
others to provide resources. The OSCE, the regional
organization most supportive of 1540 objectives, continues to
work on producing a Best Practices Guide. Chapters on export
controls and physical security have been drafted by the U.S.
and Canada, respectively. The FFT recommends a regional
database to facilitate matching pS needs with technical
assistance programs available in other OSCE countries.


24. (SBU) Canada, Italy, Croatia, Ukraine, and Poland
supported the idea of the OSCE 1540 strategy paper and
thanked the U.S. for its lead in the effort. Croatia and
Poland also expressed their desire to join the list of
co-sponsors. France (Simonet) later informed the U.S. that
it too wants to co-sponsor. Italy (Negro) noted that
delegations have had "plenty of time" to study the paper
since its distribution in March. It was important for the
Forum to identify the added value that a regional
organization can provide to implementation. He suggested
that well-tried OSCE instruments be used to further
implementation, such as transparency mechanisms like
information exchanges.


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25. (SBU) While Turkey and Germany offered general support
for the proposed 1540 strategy, both also noted concerns.
Turkey (Begec) pointed out the strategy foresees field
missions hosting regional events and wanted assurances that
the Secretariat would provide guidance to the field. Turkey
offered to work with the U.S. on appropriate language.
Germany (Schweizer) noted that the FFT proposes OSCE activity
in anti-terrorism and border controls, which would require
"proper expertise." Schweizer later told the U.S. that it
might be better to keep 1540 work in the FSC.


26. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) noted that it favored use of the
OSCE in furthering work on 1540, but it was important to
"find the most effective and best modalities." Ulyanov noted
that the strategy paper raises" a number of issues," and said
he would hold consultations with the U.S. this week to
discuss them.

Next Meeting
--------------


27. (SBU) The next FSC meeting will be on June 3 and feature
a Security Dialogue presentation by Finland on the
"multinational experiment process." In the working group,
Russia plans to return to its proposals for naval CSBMs.
VanDreal